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Devil's Bason, a harbour in Christmas Sound,
at the S. W. extremity of Terra del Fuego, open-
ing into the S. Pacific Ocean in the lat. of 55. 25.
S. ; the harbour is surrounded by rocks of a very
repulsive aspect, and so lofty as to preclude the
rays of the sun from ever beaming on its waters,
hence its name.
Devil's Island, Key and, Race, names given to
several small islands in the West Indies, and off
the E. coast of S. America, generally of rugged
aspect and difficult to approach.
Devizes, a borough town in the centre of the
county of Wiltshire, England, 85 miles W. by S.
of London, on the road to Bath, from which it is
distant 18 miles. It was a Roman station, and at
a more recent period, had considerable manufac-
tures of worsted stuff; but two public breweries
on no very extensive scale are now the only
source of surplus of production,
Devonport, the principal station of the national
navy of England, formerly called Plymouth Dock
(see Plymouth); but received its present name by
mandate of Geo. IV. on Jan. 1st, 1824 ; it is situ-
ate at the S.W. extremity of the county of Devon
at the mouth ofthe Tamar river, which here forms
one of the most commodious harbours in the
world. This spot wins first used for a marine sta-
tion at the close of the 17th century, previous to
which it was a mere fishing village, and it wins not
till after 17fai that it assumed any thing like im-
portance. whilst during the long war from 1793
to 1810, it progressively rase to he the most ex-
ten ive and complete arsenal in the world, the
natnral advantages having been rendered as con-
venient as labour and skill could make thena-
The natural accommodations of Devonport con-
sist of a triple harbour, the outer one is called
the Sound, the first inner one Catwater, and the
upper one Hamoaze; the Sound was formerly
open and exposed to the swells of the Atlantic
Ocean, which during a continuance of S. W.
winds, used to subject the anchorage to much
inconvenience, and sometimes to danger ; but in
August, 1812, the first stone was sunk of a break-
water, pier, or mole, 5,100 feet in length, 4,000 feet
in a straight line, with an angle inclining into the
Sound at each end; this stupendous work is com-
posed of upwards of two millions tons of stone,
blasted from the adjoining rocks, in pieces of 11-2
to 5 tons each, sunk indiscriminately into the wa-
ter to work their own position; it is carried up
10 feet above high winter mark at spring tides, 30
feet broad at the top, on which it is proposed to
erect storehouses at intervals, and lights along its
wh ole extent. The space within the pier is about
3 miles each winy, affording anchorage for 2,000
sail of the largest ships, secure from the fury of
the ocean however tempestuous; the ingress and
egress being safe and easy at either end of the
pier, defended from the land side on the W. by
the rock of St. Carlos, and on the E. by the Sho-
vel rock. The Catwater is formed by the estu-
ary of tfee Lule river Plym with the Tamar, and
may be regarded as the harbour of the town of
Piym-xc2xabirh. and applicable to the commercial in-
tercourse of the xe2x80xa2>r': whilst the Hamoaze extends
inland tor about 4 miles, in a direction nearly due
N. and about half a mi:? wide, forming one of the
the most convenient and beautiful natural basins
known in the world, affording moorings for 100
of the largest ships of war. without interruption
to the anchorage and movement of numerous
other vessels; and with sufficient depth of winter
to enable ships of the largest burden to take in
their stores directly off the quays and jettys, that
range along its eastern shore. The Dock Yard ex-
tends 3,500 feet along the shore and comprises 96
acres, containing a basin 250 feet by 180, in which
are kept the boats and launches belonging to the
Yard; also two mast ponds and a canal, which
enables vessels bringing stores, to land them at the
door intended for their reception. Ships and dry
docks for building and repairing of the largest
ships of war, range along the shore of Ha-
moaze, and communicate wuth the Dock basin, a
block of store houses built of stone, 450 feet long,
and 300 wide, 2 roperies 1,200 feet in length, 3
stories high, and a smilhery containing 48 forges,
all are within the Yard. The bakehouse, brew-
house, and cooperage, and slaughter house, hos-
pital and barracks for 3,000 men, are without the
Yard, but contiguous thereto; all defended on
the land side by several batteries, and a line of
circumvallation mounted with numerous cannon,
and an outer trench excavated 22 to 20 feet deep,
out of the solid rock, forming altogether the most
complete and magnificent display of human art
and exertion in the world. The parish church is
at Stoke, about a mile distant, but the town con-
tains two chapels of ease and numerous dissen-
ting meeting-houses. Here are also a commo-
dious town-hall and a public library, besides sev-
eral other handsome buildings. The column
erected to commemorate the name of the town is
a prominent and interesting object. The streets
are mostly at right angles and wrell paved. In the
census of 1821 the population of Devonport, then
Plvmouth Dock, was returned with Plymouth,
ithick see ; the post office at Devonport is 217 1-2
miles S. W. of Hyde Park Corner, London, by
war of Salisbury and Exeter, distant from the
latter 4-5 miles. The block house flag-staff of the
garrison is in the lat. of 50. 22. 56. X., and 4. 9. |
11. long. W. of Greenwich.
Devonshire, a maritime county in the S. W. of
England, bounded oh the N. E. by the county of
Somerset, N. W. by the entrance to the Bristol
Channel, W. S. W. by the Tamar River, which
divides it from the county of Cornwall, and S. by
the English Channel. Its extreme length from
the Start Point in the English Channel to Ilfra-
comb, on the shore of the Bristol Channel, is
about 70 miles, but its mean length and breadth
is abopt 50 miles, giving the largest area of any
county in England, except those of York and
Lincoln. It is the fourth county in order of pop-
ulation, and the most agricultural of any in the
kingdom. Although it has the finest harbour in the
world, and several other convenient ones, and in-
tersected by numerous streams, favourable for mill
sites, and other manufacturing operations, rela-
tively , it is one of the least commercial and man-
ufacturing counties in the kingdom. The S. W.
part of the county contains a dreary tract called
Dartmoor, containing upwards of 53,000 acres ;
the highest elevation of this moor, is 1,549 feet
above the level of the sea ; the other parts of the
county more particularly the S. and W. are ex-
ceedingly fertile. Its principal surplus produce
is cattle of a remarkably fine breed, either for
dairying or for feeding, and of beautiful symme
try; the N. E. part of the county contains veins
of copper, lead, manganese, gypsum, and of load-
stone ; antimony, bismuth, and cobalt are also
found in small quantities ; it has also quarries of
beautiful marble and granite, none of which how-
ever are worked to any great advantage. The
principal manufactures of the county are serges. |
